Elon Musk suggests charging commercial or government Twitter users

Twitter's incoming new owner says the platform will remain free for "casual users" — but for some others, it could be a different story.

Elon Musk, who is in the process of purchasing Twitter, on Tuesday night suggested some commercial or government accounts could be charged to use the service in the future.

"Ultimately, the downfall of the Freemasons was giving away their stonecutting services for nothing," Musk tweeted. "Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users."

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Musk didn't provide details about what this "slight cost" might look like. But this was the latest look into the kind of changes he's eying should he gain ownership of Twitter. Recently, a report from Reuters said Musk was looking at new ways to monetize tweets, such as possibly charging websites a fee to quote or embed tweets from verified accounts.

Musk entered into an agreement to purchase Twitter late last month, though he doesn't yet officially own the company. When he made his offer, the Tesla CEO said Twitter "will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form," and it "needs to be transformed as a private company." But The Wall Street Journal reports that Musk has told investors he could take Twitter public again "in as little as three years of buying it."